Tag: 16 May 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 16, 2025 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is pleased to announce the winners of six of the 2025 Regional Student Conferences. The first-place university student winners in each of the high school, undergraduate, graduate, and team categories (listed below) receive cash prizes.

Record-breaking crowds of over 1,200 students and professionals attended across all six of the recent conferences. This year marks the first regional student conference held in Canada. The 355 student papers presented will be published by AIAA and available on Aerospace Research Center (ARC) later this year.

“We’re excited to see our university student members gaining real-life experiences,” said AIAA CEO Clay Mowry. “For many students, these conferences are their first opportunity to formally present their research and receive valuable feedback from industry professionals. Their creativity and passion for aerospace was on full display. After hearing several presentations, I came away with a renewed enthusiasm for our community—the future of aerospace is bright indeed.”

“We’re grateful to the local aerospace industry and universities in the conference cities for hosting tours and sponsoring the events. The dedication from the many local AIAA section volunteers helps make these conferences a resounding success,” Mowry added.

AIAA holds conferences in each region for university student members at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and in some cases high schoolers. The AIAA Foundation funds the regional student conferences, in addition to contributions from many other regional-level sponsors.

Region I Winners

Undergraduate Category

• First Place: “Design and Analysis of a Self-Propelled Nanosatellite for a Mission Beyond Low Earth Orbit,” Zoë Jaeger-Letts and Jakub Glowacki, Concordia University (Montreal, Canada)
• Second Place: “Structural Analysis and Testing of a Student-Designed UAV Wing,” Jack Snyder and Nick Tepylo, Clarkson University (Potsdam, NY)
• Third Place: “Visual Exploration with UAVs: Solving the Next-Best-View Problem with Limited A Priori Information,” Coleman Henner, Pennsylvania State University (State College, PA)

Graduate Category

• First Place: “Advancing Space Situational Awareness: Using Multispectral Imaging for Space Object Observation,” Lovejivan Sidhu and Gupreet Singh, York University (Toronto, Canada)
• Second Place: “IRMA: New Era for Interstellar Travel,” Christina Decker and Felix May, University at Buffalo (Buffalo, NY)
• Third Place: “Aircraft Trim Condition Detection Using Flight Test Data and Interval Analysis,” Mouhamadou Wade, École de Technologie Supérieure (Montreal, Canada)

Team Category

• First Place: “Design of Morph Wings with Tunable Properties for Ultralight Aircraft,” Serena Dalo, Emre Danabasoglu, Demi Davis, Benjamin France, Fiona Leitner, Maxwell Maria, and James Watson, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Worcester, MA)
• Second Place: “Aerodynamic Performance Enhancement of Co-Flow Jet Airfoil with Metamorphic Wing Mechanism,” Rawsen Mitchell, Andrew Leonard, Eric Doraci, and Haifa El-Sadi, Wentworth Institute of Technology (Boston, MA)
• Third Place: “Design of a CubeSat Radio Telescope Constellation,” Zevulun Lieberman, Sjoerd Huitema, Mary Laurens, Aquil-li Rodriguez Plassa, and Mark Russo, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Worcester, MA)

Region II Winners

Undergraduate Category

• First Place: “Experimental Characterization of a Quadrotor’s Response Air Vortex Cannon,” Kyle VanHorn, University of North Carolina Charlotte (Charlotte, NC)
• Second Place: “Development of a Student-Built LOX/Jet-A Coaxial Swirl Injector,” Dario Zaccagnino, Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA)
• Third Place: “Design and Fabrication of an EDS-Enabled Brush Prototype for Lunar Dust Mitigation,” Nishant Sood and Julie Linsey, Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA)

Graduate Category

• First Place: “Evolution of the Biderectional Vortex in a Capped Ellipsoidal Cyclonic Rocket Engine,” Patrick Eid and Joseph Majdalani, Auburn University (Auburn, AL)
• Second Place: “On the Multipole Vortex (MpV) Motion in a Circular-Port Hybrid Rocket Engine,” Mitchell Sisk and Joseph Majdalani, Auburn University (Auburn, AL)
• Third Place: “Star Elimination as a Means of Resident Space Object Identification for Space Situational Awareness,” Evan Pavetto-Stewart and Thomas Alan Lovell, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Daytona Beach, FL)

Undergraduate Team Category

• First Place: “STARGATE: An Undergraduate Experimental Gridded Ion Thruster Student Research Project,” Claude Blue, Peter Summers, Jeffrey King, and Themistoklis Chronis, University of Alabama Huntsville (Huntsville, AL)
• Second Place: “Development of a High-Performance Avionics System for Real-Time Guidance and Control in High-Power Vehicles,” Cheng Liu, Mohammed Abdeen, and Kanav Chugh, Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA)
• Third Place: “Design and Analysis of Axial Turbine Power Extraction from a Small-Scale Rotating Detonation Rocket Combustor,” Corey Thunes, Donovan Ngum, Ellie Murray, Jose Barbeito, Lucas Nicol, Rodrigo Dacosta, Trevor Larsen and James Braun, North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC)

Outstanding Student Branch Category

• First Place: Auburn University (Auburn, AL)
• Second Place: Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA)
• Third Place: University of Tennessee Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)

Open Topic Category

• First Place: “Advancing Laser Communication for Mars Orbital Missions,” Om Acharya, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Daytona Beach, FL)
• Second Place: “The Orbiter: Pushing the Boundaries of Amateur Rocketry,” Yash Malik, Florida Institute of Technology (Melbourne, FL)
• Third Place: “A Review of Hypersonic Vehicle Engine Optimization,” Nicholas Pisani and Peter Waszkowski, Florida Institute of Technology (Melbourne, FL)

Region III Winners

Undergraduate Category

• First Place: “Velocity Characterization of a Newly Commissioned Hypersonic Ludwieg Tube Using FLEET,” Rowan Quintero, University of Maryland (College Park, MD)
• Second Place: “Free-Flight Testing of Ogive Flare Geometry in Hypersonic Wind Tunnel,” Ryan Jones, University of Maryland (College Park, MD)
• Third Place: “Continued Development and Validation of an Exoskeleton Focused Immersive Teleoperation Interface,” Romeo Perlstein, University of Maryland (College Park, MD)

Graduate Category        

• First Place: “Multi-Sensor Based Adaptive Fusion Scheme for Position Estimation of Multirotor UAV Systems in GPS-Denied Environments,” Luke Busse, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)
• Second Place: “Cascading Delay Mitigation with Quadratic Bezier Curve Trajectory Planning,” Michael Variny, Ohio University (Athens, OH)
• Third Place: “Optimization of Thrust Vector Direction for Direct Measurement Uncertainty Minimization,” Adam Jones, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI)       

Team Category

• First Place: “Design and Implementation of a High-Powered Rocket to Investigate Flight Performance and Fin Flutter During Transonic Flight,” Sam Zieba, Cesar Martinez, Ian James, Tari Himelhoch, and Cole Christopherson, Milwaukee School of Engineering (Milwaukee, WI)
• Second Place: “Mars Autonomous Resupply Constellation (MARC), Raymond Bertke,” Hayden Brown, Nicholas Gomori, and Jake Ferris, Ohio State University (Columbus, OH)
• Third Place: “Design and Manufacturing of FANG (Fabric ANchoring Gadget) for Fabric Repair on the International Space Station,” Zoe Surles, Saanvi Kunisetty, Lillian Hunt, Gabriela Zabiegaj, Ryan Smith, Tiana Foreman, Casimir Palowski, Taranpreet Singh, Alana Falter, Denver Haslett, Andrew Jace Bernando, Kate Pactol, Parker Lenkaitis, Jennifer Ren, Emma Held, and Julia Kalil, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (Urbana-Champaign, IL)

Region IV Winners

Undergraduate Category

• First Place: “Efficiency of Bio-Inspired Blades for Vertical Axis Wind Turbines,” Smruthi Ahashidhar and Kiran Bhaganagar, University of Texas at San Antonio (San Antonio, TX)
• Second Place: “Development of a Bimodal Ammonium Perchlorate Cast Propellant for 54-mm and 76-mm Solid Rockets,” Alex Earnhart and Jacob Robinson, Oklahoma State University (Stillwater, OK)
• Third Place: “Frequency Response of Fast-Responsive Pressure-Sensitive Paint, Andrew Cervantes and Alexandria Lopez-Boor,” University of Texas at San Antonio, (San Antonio, TX)

Graduate Category

• First Place: “Tailoring Metal Particle Deposition on Non-conductive Woven Fabrics for Multifunctional Applications using an Electroplating Process,” Isaac Carney and Isaac Williams, Oklahoma State University (Stillwater, OK)
• Second Place: “Development of a Micro-Turbojet Engine Control Unit for Component Level Efficiencies Monitoring,” Zachary Wattenbarger and Kurt Rouser, Oklahoma State University (Stillwater, OK)
• Third Place: “An Analytical Model for Thin Film Heat-Transfer Gauges,” Emirhan Bayir, University of Texas at Arlington (Arlington, TX)

Team Category

• First Place: “Optimization of Wheel Design for NASA TSGC Lunar Personal Electric Vehicle (LPEV): A Mechanical Engineering Approach,” Akash Musale, Swaid Alrashed, Easton Duplichan, Silas Hill, and Nourouddin Sharifi, Tarleton State University (Stephenville, TX)
• Second Place: “Application of Neuromorphic Attitude Control to High-Powered Rockets,” Daniel Bluedorn, Kaiden Kiracofe, Brian Davis, Kimberly Perez, and Stefan Fountain, New Mexico State University (Las Cruces, NM)
• Third Place: “Development of a 2-Dimensional, Variable-Area Nozzle for Small Unmanned Aircraft Micro-Turbojets,” Noah Greeson, Andrew Knotts, Sue Ellyn Corbett, Alexandra Boyko, Ryan Berzas, Alexandra Boyko, Tyler Rogalski, and Kurt Rouser, Oklahoma State University (Stillwater, OK)

Region V Winners

Undergraduate Category

• First Place: “Modeling Trajectory and Attitude to Optimize Baffle Design for the Optical Navigation System of the Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt,” Christopher Michael O’Neill Jr., University of Colorado Boulder (Boulder, CO)
• Second Place: “Predictive Station Keeping of Areostationary Satellites Using Natural Motion Trajectories,” Nathan Gall and Ryan Caverly, University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, MN)
• Third Place: “Machine Learning Optimization of Model Following Control for Resilient Microburst Attenuation on Final Approach,” Nathan Aldridge and Samuel Stanton, United States Air Force Academy (Air Force Academy, CO)

Graduate Category

• First Place: “Long Short-Term Memory Networks to Improve Aerodynamic Coefficient Estimation for Aerocapture,” Dominic Rudakevych and Stephen Becker, University of Colorado Boulder (Boulder, CO)
• Second Place: “Hypersonic Glide Vehicle Trajectory Design Using Constrained Energy Maneuverability,” Sam Jaeger and Maziar Hemati, University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, MN)
• Third Place: “Human Spaceflight Graduate Projects: Recommendations for Project-Based Aerospace Systems Engineering,” Lynnette Wilde and Lynzee Hogger, University of Colorado Boulder (Boulder, CO)

Undergraduate Team Category

• First Place: “Countering Balance Impairments in Microgravity and Earth Environments Using a Reactive Balance System,” Sweta Alla, Maya Mital, and Rishab Pally, University of Colorado Boulder (Boulder, CO)
• Second Place: “Sound of Crickets: Design of Experimental System for Analysis of the Effects of Rocket Launch on Acheta domestitcus Cricket Eggs,” Anna Daetz, Bryson Chittum, Aaron Kerber, and William Kilcrease, University of Colorado Colorado Springs (Colorado Springs, CO)
• Third Place: “Aerodynamic Stability for Optimal CubeSat Drag Sail Operations,” Adrian Bryant, Polly Fitton, Tyler Renken, Shane Billingsley, University of Colorado Boulder (Boulder, CO)

Region VI Winners

High School Category

• First Place: “A Novel Low-Cost Zero Mean-Flow Chamber Design and Physics-Informed Neural Network for Astrophysical and Environmental Turbulence Applications,” Aiden Kwon, Palos Verdes Peninsula High School (Rolling Hills Estates, CA)
• Second Place: “A Study of Toroidal Propellers with Comparison to Traditional Propellers,” Bingxuan Cheng, Trabuco Hills High School (Mission Viejo, CA)
• Third Place: “Taming the Oblique Wing: Improving Fuel Efficiency by Developing and Flight Testing an Oblique Wing Aircraft Utilizing a Novel Control Method,” Kevin Shen, Olympia High School (Olympia, WA)

Undergraduate Category

• First Place: “Modeling a Gliding Turn-Back Maneuver (“Impossible Turn”) Following an Engine Failure,” Nicholas Lototsky, University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA)
• Second Place: “Computational Model of a Table Top Shock Tunnel for Hypersonic Environments,” Lindsay Feyrer and Tim Linke, University of California Davis (Davis, CA)
• Third Place: “Spectroscopic Analysis of Erosion Rate from Electrode Surfaces on the ZaP-HD Device,” Elyse Lian, University of Washington (Seattle, WA)

Graduate Category

• First Place: “Aerodynamic Force Characterization of a Novel Variable Amplitude Flapping Wing Robot,” Geourg Kivijian and Nandeesh Hiremath, California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo (San Luis Obispo, CA)
• Second Place: “Initial Parametric Design of a Torsion Pendulum to Demonstrate Attitude Control using Microoptoelectromechanical System Control of Radiation Pressure,” Jonathan Messer, University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA)
• Third Place: “Influence of Functionalized Titanium Dioxide Ligant Length on Composite Mechanical Properties,” Ian Holmes and Joseph Kalman

Undergraduate Team Category

• First Place: “Design and Experimental Validation of a Gallium Field Emission Electric Propulsion Thruster,” Kylar Flynn, Gabriel Goldman, Connor Storey, and Jose Torres, University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA)
• Second Place Tie: “Tensegrity Structures for Energy Absorption in Aerospace Landing and Reusable Rocket Systems,” Leire Roma Rubi, Ryan Kuo, and Brennan Birn, University of California Berkeley (Berkeley, CA)
• Second Place Tie: “Load Testing of a Superelastic Tire Suited for Space Exploration,” Audrey Park, Jacqueline Nguyen, Amanda Lucker, Yashvi Deliwala, University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA)
• Third Place: “Design of a Non-Flapping Morphing Drone Inspired by the Western Gull,” by Jose Aquilera Fuentes, Jeffrey Astorga, Marco Zuloaga, Jeremy LeMaster, Adrian Corral, Jonathan Balan, Joseph Mackey de Zela, Matthew Emil Martin, Harmandeep Gill, Brianna Murphy, and Peter Bishay, California State University Northridge (Northridge, CA)

Media Contact: Rebecca Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270 cell

About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit www.aiaa.org, or follow AIAA on X/Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.